Swadlincote based TAG Racing Honda left the opening official ZYN British Superbike Championship test delighted with their work, after riders Charlie Nesbitt, Fraser Rogers and Matt Truelove all made improvements with their Honda CBR1000RR-R Fireblades during two productive days on track in tricky blustery conditions.
The 2.49-mile Grand Prix circuit played host the opening official ZYN BSB test of the year, and in blustery conditions created by Storm Dave the team worked hard from the off to continue the progress they made a week before at a private test conducted at Snetterton.
Both Charlie Nesbitt and Fraser Rogers worked on fine-tuning their base set-ups ahead of the start of the 2026 season, which is set to take place over the May Bank Holiday weekend.
They made small tweaks in each of the six sessions, while assessing the performance new components that had been acquired by the team.
Nesbitt would wrap up the test 12th in the overall combined classification, with a best lap of 1:28.181. Teammate Rogers would end the two days 17th, after achieving a best lap of 1:28.648 and both riders left feeling pleased with their work, and are ready to make further improvements in two weeks time at Oulton Park.
Truelove would end the test third fastest in the National Superstock class, just three tenths of a second behind the quickest man, Josh Owens. The Lincolnshire-man completed 88 laps during the two days, and was ultimately pleased with his efforts once the flag dropped to signal the end of the test.
Charlie Nesbitt: “I’ve enjoyed this weekend a lot, I’ve gelled really well with my crew and we hit the ground running on Friday. We’ve had some new components for the bike and straight away they improved our package, and that gave me a lot of confidence.
“We’ve got through a lot work and nailed down the direction that we want to go in, we’ve found a good base set-up early and that has helped our progress. There are still a couple of areas I feel we can improve on, and that will be our main focus at Oulton Park.
“I need to thank my side of the garage for their work this weekend, they’ve put in a massive shift for me and I can’t say thank you enough to them.”
Fraser Rogers: “We came into this test on the front foot really, our private test at Snetterton gave us a good direction to go in and to nail that so early on made this weekend a lot easier. It meant we could focus our attentions elsewhere, and it gave us chance to try some new ideas we had with the bike.
“The new swinging arm we have has really helped me for sure, I feel a lot more comfortable with the Fireblade, I can ride it how I want and I’m a lot more confident with it. I’m really excited to get to Oulton Park now and see how we fair against the rest of the field, and being honest, by the end of that test I feel like I’ll be in a good place ahead of the start of the season.”
Matt Truelove: “I’m coming away from this test happy, we had a few things to try with the bike this weekend and we’ve really fine-tuned my bike into a good place. The new components the team have sourced for this season have made my bike even better, and I’m really confident we can be a real threat this season.
“We have two more days on track planned at the final official test, we want to try one or two things to try extract a little more performance from the bike, but honestly, if we were going racing tomorrow I’d feel ready. Big thanks to the team, they’ve put in a lot of effort recently and I’m ready to repay them for that.”
Team manager Gary Winfield: “We’re really pleased with this test, we worked through our program for each rider and are hopeful we now have a clear direction from which we can progress at the next test at Oulton Park. I’m delighted with how all the team are working together, we’re all pulling in the same direction and that is showing with the results on track
“Our next test will be our final opportunity to ensure we’re in the best place ahead of round one, we have a few things we’d like to try there, which we believe will give us a good opportunity to show our true potential.”
The team now has a two week break before heading to Chester for the final official test on April 21/22 at Oulton Park, the venue which will host the opening round of the 2026 season.
